May, 2010

May

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I am writing to you today because I’m seeking representation on my young adult, urban fantasy manuscript DARK HOURS.

When you’re seventeen marriage is the last thing on your mind. Unless you’re Summer James, and doing so saves the world.

Part witch and part Decca warrior, Summer has just five months to bind herself to a suitor. Of course, not just anyone will do, she must be in love with them. Otherwise, a crazy demon will rise and rule the world. In order to stop this event from occuring, her parents force her to go out on blind dates hoping she’ll fall for one of them. This isn’t how she wants to find love.

As luck would have it, she receives a special mission from the high council of the Decca warriors. She must protect Drew Falcore from a killer hunting him. Now, forced to spend all their time together a past attraction is reigniated. But a love like theirs is forbidden and the punishment is death.When Landon, a student of her father’s is sent to protect her, she notices something growing between them. She forces herself to push away when she uncovers his family’s future plans for him, which don’t include her.

When the fate of the world hangs over her head and time running out she feels she’ll need a mircle to make the right decision. Because one of these guys holds the key to vanquishing the threat against her life and the world. DARK HOURS is a young adult urban fantasy, complete at 60,000 words.

I am an active member of the YaLitChat group.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

***

Chapter 1: Decisions

It was near the violet hour, or as humans call it, evening.

I began pacing around in my ugly, pastel green bedroom, trying to think of a great excuse to set me free from this god-forsaken date with, Josh Wickman. He was gorgeous, sure, but that didn’t matter to me. His brains were mush— like most males, I quickly found out. Oh, and his arrogance? Wow!

I never thought I’d meet anyone as pigheaded and disgusting in all my life, but somehow I had. Thanks to my stubborn, loving parents playing the game of matchmaker— I had the new job of getting rid of him.

Stupid clan vow! Curses flew out of my mouth.

A knock came at the door, pulling me away from my thoughts. I grumbled, rolled my eyes, and called out, “What?”

Josh “The Loser” who knows everything about the element of Fire. Yay, I thought sarcastically as I brushed past my bed.

I moaned, “I’m not feeling well.” It was followed by a hard, fake cough that hurt my lungs.

Executed to a “T,” if I were dealing with humans, they would have thought I had bronchitis. In fact, any other mother or father would have fallen for it. My parents were different though. So naturally, she burst into my room, glaring at me as she stormed her way in. I didn’t stiffen, as usual. Instead, my feet remained planted firmly to the floor while her violet eyes gave me a once over.

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May

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After a witch’s spell leaves Karie in someone else’s dying body, she manages to yank her spirit out in time to avoid the afterlife. Since, technically, her body hasn’t died, she’s not a ghost. Of course, that distinction won’t matter if she can’t track down the witch and regain her body before her spirit dies in one week. What she doesn’t know is that the witch is in league with an immortal diabolist who is determined to sacrifice Karie in order to save himself from eternal damnation.

She enlists the aid of some new friends—including sexy college classmate and demon-hunter Rafael—to track down the witch and stop the diabolist from releasing the demons of Hell on an unsuspecting world.

DYING TO FIND YOU is a 90,000 word urban fantasy novel inspired by a parable from the Bible, “The Rich Man and Lazarus”. My story infers what happens after the rich man, who is damned for eternity, strikes a deal with a devil to gain his freedom at the expense of his brothers’ souls.

I am a reformed accountant who made the leap into freelance writing full time last year. I have two short stories published in anthologies by Indie publisher Twin Trinity Media. “Fly” was published in Elements of the Soul in 2009. “The Ring” was published in Elements of Time in March of 2010.

Thank you for your time.

****

Dying to Find You

Karie had faced down death twice in her life already, so dealing with a frat house full of drunken college students should have been no sweat for her. She wiped her damp hands on her ultra-skinny denim leggings for the third time and searched the smoky room for her BFF, Lily.

“Karie, you finally made it. I was about to send out a search party,” Lily yelled as she stumbled around other equally drunk partiers to cross the living room. The house probably started out with tasteful furniture before years of keggers and spoiled rich guys trashed it.

Lily’s attire was classic urban skank. The micro-mini she wore barely covered her thong, and her low cut shirt revealed a black, lace push-up bra. The mighty powers of the bra pushed “The Girls” together so tightly her cleavage could hold a single piece of thread upright. An unfortunate fact Karie learned when Lily forced her try it.

“Oh, look Jell-O shots. Let’s grab some. The alcohol burns away all the calories.” Lily snatched several of the colorful offerings from a tray circulating nearby.

Karie waved away the Jell-O shot and sipped at her bottle of Diet Coke. She shuddered at the thought of it. Jell-O tasted too much like Kool-Aid. Besides, there was no way she would blindly drink anything anyone handed her ever again. Drinking one glass of poisoned Kool-Aid in her lifetime was enough to make her suspicious of everyone. Sure, she had trust issues, but if you couldn’t trust your own mother not to poison your drink, who could you trust?

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May

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Eve had no choice but to eat the fruit; the gods had no choice but to protect her.

Created to right the mistakes of Adam and protect God’s people, the Garden is no paradise for Eve or the others who were first made. After Eve’s creation and God’s death, Adam sets himself up as a god in the Garden, and his first goal is to take the two things forbidden to him: Eve as his wife, and the Fruit of Knowledge. Eve must escape Adam’s control and the Garden in order to save herself and her people.

Thor and the other Norse gods did not arrive until long after Creation, but now that they’ve settled there is much to learn. During one of Thor’s journeys, he discovers Eve: beautiful, immortal, and for some inexplicable reason, living like she isn’t a goddess. With a wife waiting for him in Asgard, he never meant to fall in love.

After millenia without his memory, Adam comes looking for Eve in modern day France. Thor must step in to stop him, but doing so risks not only Eve’s sanity, but the destruction of the world.

THE BOOK OF GENERATIONS is a re-imagining of mythology borrowing from the Nordic, biblical, and classical traditions. It is best classified as a work of fantasy with elements of historical fiction. THE BOOK OF GENERATIONS is roughly 97,000 words.

I graduated from the University of North Dakota with a BA in English and Classical Studies.

Thank you for your time and consideration; I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

***

Chapter One: Creation

Bone and flesh, sinew and soul, He created her.

Be Filled With My Spirit, And Breathe.

She gasped. Sound roared in her ears and the darkness of birth became blinding light. The air in her lungs was suffocating, but she could not find relief. The world pressed down upon her in all its living glory, and the void, the blessed void, was gone.

“Eve?”

The light became shapes and colors, and a pair of hard grey eyes. She touched her face, then stopped and stared at her fingers. Her hand. Her arm.

Another hand pushed her arm away. “Can you hear me?”

She looked back at the eyes. The face. The moving lips. She heard another noise, whimpering and sorrowful, and realized she was making it.

“Don’t be afraid, Eve. You’ll understand in time.”

Arms slipped beneath her and she felt herself lifted up. What hold she had over her vision failed with the movement and Eve closed her eyes to stop the way the world spun.

“There’s a storm coming.” The other spoke while carrying her, and she tried to concentrate on the voice. There was so much noise. And underneath the sounds and the voice a steady beating that echoed inside her body. “Without God to protect us, we’ll need to shelter in the caves.”

She was set down on cold earth, and Eve opened her eyes. Cave, she thought, shaping the word in her mind around the stone and the dirt that swallowed her.

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May

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Everyone knows it’s not safe to go out drinking alone, especially for a beautiful twenty-four-year-old woman. That’s why Liz did the smart thing and went with her friends. Oh, she was on the lookout for the run-of-the-mill pervert all right, but no one ever bothered to explain that things other than lecherous men prowled the night. And they sure never told her she could become one.

Fighting against an all consuming blood lust, Liz’s only hope of regaining humanity is to locate the man who bit her. Finding him could be more than she bargained for. Michael, her unwitting maker, is a vampire assassin. Years before she was born, his archenemy Monroe set a spell in motion to bring about his destruction. Liz is the tool that could bring it to fruition.

Trapped in an ancient battle between good and evil, she encounters a world of magic, supernatural beings, and treacherous plots to kill those she holds dear. Liz must decide if she will remain true to her unfailing belief in the preservation of life, or succumb to the darkness that dwells inside her.

THE DARK GIFT: BIRTHRIGHT is a 94,000 word Urban Fantasy. It is suitable for crossover to YA.

I am an active member of Yalitchat.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

***

This was crazy. Just Forty-eight hours ago, the man Elizabeth was willing to sacrifice herself for before this council of vampire elders, had been the very same man who killed her. She glanced around the large hall hoping to find a friendly face—anything that might calm her wrangled nerves.

The spacious room coupled with a high arched ceiling could have doubled as an auditorium. Three lines of tiered benches surrounded the grayed wood floor adding to the effect. Dotted throughout the crowd were beings of extraordinary beauty. But there were others there. The kind pictured in horror stories. Sallow skinned, tangled hair, with monstrous features and fangs, they laughed and jostled each other in anticipation of what was about to happen. If the vampires gathered had been using their voices instead of their minds to speak, the noise would have reverberated to the intensity of a rock concert.

“There he is. I wonder if he’s ever considered being under the hand of his brand of justice?”

“Oh, she’s beautiful. The pain of this loss will be great for him,” another voice snickered.

“Two hundred years I have waited for this moment. Tell me, Michael, how does it feel? Was it all worth it now?”

Nothing she could make out sounded like a help to their cause. The vampires wanted retribution. Without thinking, she edged closer to Michael. In the presence of all this hostility, his nearness felt like a safe haven.

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May

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Cathleen Wilson died. Twice. First, giving birth to her only child. And again, willingly sacrificing her own life to save that of another. Each time she was chosen, as only the purest of heart are, and given another chance at life, at happiness. Now, she has come back once more, her final chance. With her memories wiped clean, as each time before, she struggles just to survive the less than ideal hand life has dealt her.

Desperate and penniless, two young sisters embark on a journey to a new land. The older sister, Cathleen, affectionately called Cat, plans to try and pass herself off as her former employer, a self-centered wealthy heiress, to the woman’sbetrothed. Theirs was an arranged engagement and neither had seen each other since childhood. The groom-to-be, Duke Samuel Epworth, proves to be more than the sisters bargain for, though. The dangerously astute and devilishly handsome womanizer quickly becomes the one man Cat finds it impossible to fool or refuse. His persistence and charm soon wears downs her resistance.

At first, seeing her as a challenge, Samuel is determined to learn the secrets behind the man who is following Cat and what lies in her past that makes her so untrusting of men. But, when his feelings become engaged, he realizes that the challenge just may be getting her to let him inside of the protective walls she has built around her wounded heart. In the end he must enlist the assistance of the secret protectors of the Dark Forest to aid him in his quest to save Cat from her pursuers and even…herself.

Secrets Revealed is a 96,500-word paranormal romance set in the mid-1800’s and in a fictional land called the Dark Forest.

I am a member of the Romance Writers of America and RWA’s online chapter.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I would be pleased to send a full manuscript.

************* At times, one can work to create for one’s self a second chance to right wrongs, and in doing so attain inner peace. Other times, the opportunity comes about purely by luck. Sometimes though, second chances are granted to the uniquely deserving by the greater powers whose existence most are completely unaware of. For one woman, a third is granted. # October 1840

The sound came again, echoing through the long hall. Cat’s fingers tightened on the rag in her hand, the bucket of soapy water all but forgotten sitting behind her beneath the window. She inched forward, dread driving her feet towards the woman’s muffled cries. Careful to step lightly so her oversized, second hand shoes would not clack on the tile floor, she made her way to the end of the corridor. Her limbs trembled and her breaths became short as she approached the closed door. With trembling fingers she reached for the knob. A man’s voice, his voice, froze her in place. Lord Gilmore’s nasally words rose above the woman’s sobs.

“You truly thought I would make you my mistress? Good Lord, woman. Are you daft? You are a servant. A bloody servant.” The room grew quiet behind the door. “By God, you should consider yourself lucky that I am giving you a letter of recommendation and twenty-four hours to find a place to go. If Anna had her way, you and those two sniveling brats of yours would have been tossed out onto the street last night with nothing.”